President Obama recently issued two Executive Orders designed to ensure that federal contractors maintain strict compliance with various labor-related laws and regulations if they wish to remain eligible for federal contracts.  Taken together, these Executive Orders place significant new compliance burdens on federal contractors.  Please see our attached article for an in-depth analysis of these requirements and our suggestions for proactive steps contractors can take to address them.

The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order (No. 13673) creates a series of new reporting and evaluation requirements for federal contractors.  Contractors must collect, maintain, and disclose data on any violations of labor laws.  Agencies must appoint Labor Compliance Advisors to evaluate this data and coordinate their analysis with the contracting officer’s responsibility determination.  The order also creates new reporting requirements for employee pay and hour data and severely restricts employers’ ability to require binding arbitration for employee grievances based on sexual assault, harassment, or claims arising out of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.  The order calls for rulemaking by the Department of Labor and proposed amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

The Non-Retaliation for Disclosure of Compensation Information Executive Order (No. 13665) targets prohibitions on discussing and disclosing information related to compensation.  The order aims to increase transparency within companies to detect and interdict compensation discrimination.  Under the proposed rule issued by the Department of Labor on September 15, 2014, agencies must include a new nondiscrimination provision in all contracts valued at more than $10,000.  With limited exceptions, contractors may not discriminate against an employee who inquires about or discloses compensation information.

Tags: Compensation, Executive Order, FAR, Federal Acquisition Regulation, Labor, Regulations, Rulemaking
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Photo of Susan B. Cassidy Susan B. Cassidy

Susan Cassidy co-chairs Covington’s Aerospace and Defense Industry Group, and has been advising government contractors for more than 35 years on the requirements imposed on companies contracting with the U.S. Government.

Susan’s practice focuses on the intersection of cybersecurity, national security, and supply…

Susan Cassidy co-chairs Covington’s Aerospace and Defense Industry Group, and has been advising government contractors for more than 35 years on the requirements imposed on companies contracting with the U.S. Government.

Susan’s practice focuses on the intersection of cybersecurity, national security, and supply chain risk management for companies that sell products and services to the U.S. Government. Susan advises contractors at all phases of the procurement cycle, and regularly:

advises clients on compliance obligations imposed by the FAR, DFARS, and other agency regulatory requirements;
leads internal and government False Claims Act (FCA) investigations addressing allegations of violations of government cybersecurity, national security, supply chain, quality, and MIL-SPEC requirements; and
advises clients who have suffered a cyber breach where U.S. government information may have been impacted.

In her work with global, national, and start-up contractors, Susan advises companies on all aspects of government supply chain issues including:

Government cybersecurity requirements, including the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), DFARS 252.204-7012, FedRAMP, controlled unclassified information (CUI), and NIST SP 800-171 requirements;
Evolving sourcing issues such as Section 889, counterfeit part requirements, Section 5949 semiconductor product and service restrictions, and limitations on sourcing a variety of products from China; and
Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) regulations and product exclusions.

 

Susan previously served as senior in-house counsel for two major defense contractors (Northrop Grumman Corporation and Motorola Incorporated) and is Chambers rated in both Government Contracts and Government Contracts Cybersecurity. Chambers USA has quoted sources stating that “Susan’s in-house experience coupled with her deep understanding of the regulatory requirements is the perfect balance to navigate legal and commercial matters.”

Susan is a former Public Contract Law Procurement Division Co-Chair, former Co-Chair and current Vice-Chair of the ABA PCL Cybersecurity, Privacy and Emerging Technology Committee.

Susan’s pro-bono work extends to assisting veterans in a variety of matters, as well as providing advice to elderly clients on their wills and other end-of-life planning documents.

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